Fourth of July Holiday, 1996

Fourth of July. It's actually getting to be almost summer in California. It's even a little warm at night. The ocean is still 55 degrees, but air temperature is only slightly chilly, so it's bearable.

Main thing on this exquisite holiday was to sleep. We slept every day, Thursday the 4th, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, to ten or eleven o'clock. Dad was trying to beat back a virus and needed the sleep. Besides, it doesn't get dark until 9:00 at night, so why not indulge.

Thursday the 4th, traditional American holiday. Remember, this family hasn't had any traditional American holidays for ten years. So we went to San Francisco to see a triple fireworks display over the harbor. San Francisco is always a treat. On the way there, we stopped at a beach for surfing. The surf was small but deceptively whiplash. Glenn and Vance both went out, but were beaten back. Surf 1, Stevens's 0.

Next day, sleep late again, drink expresso, and several cups later decide to make a move to Santa Cruz. This time, the surf was small and almost glass. Small meant not crowded. Glass meant ideal conditions. A late start put us near the beach after daytime parking restrictions had lifted. This time, Vance 1, surf 1.

Saturday, a little tired of surf surf surf, all the time surf, so Bobbi and I had our lie in and then went to Big Basin Redwood Park for a great walk in the forest. We walked about ten miles on undulant, shaded, well marked trails, destination: a series of waterfalls, the centerpiece a spidery lattice falls 70 ft. tall (20 meters). Reminded us of Hawaii. Walking around redwoods is mystic. Did you know that 97% of these ancient wonders have been logged out of existence in the USA? Only 3% left, and the loggers and some folks in congress want to whittle that down to 1%. I say we spam 'em.

Sunday, the last day of our relaxing holiday, we had a lie-in till 11:00. We always went to bed late, so it wasn't all sleep sleep sleep. But our last day we decided to go, the whole family, to Sta. Cruz for a last day of surfing. Typical of northern California, at the beach itself, the fog had rolled in. It was gloomy, and THERE WAS NO SURF. Absolutely zilch. So we drove around Sta. Cruz checking it out and ended up playing baseball on the beach, just the 4 of us. Somehow, we all had a blast doing that. Then we went out to eat. What a nice holiday. Some people actually fly places for holidays like the one we had.

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Last updated: November 13, 1997

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